The Symbia Forum 2008 was a two-day event that brought Symbia^® TruePoint™ SPECT•CT (single photon emission computed tomography•computed tomography) users together to share best practices. Robin Wible, CNMT, director of Nuclear Medicine and PET at Memorial Hospital of York (York, PA), and Kwasi Armah, MD, chairman of the hospital’s Department of Radiology, shared their best practices with SPECT•CT. Memorial Hospital, a 100-bed community hospital in Pennsylvania, utilizes Siemens Symbia SPECT•CT, which combines the functional sensitivity of SPECT with the anatomical detail of diagnostic multislice CT to improve image clarity and diagnostic confidence.

Wible and Dr. Armah reported that the Symbia SPECT•CT's attenuation correction eliminated two-day imaging protocols for patients who exceeded certain weight and height limits*. Previously, approximately 20 percent of inpatient and emergency room (ER) volume required two-day imaging, which resulted in an increased length of stay for these patients. Approximately 21 percent of outpatients also required two-day imaging before SPECT•CT was implemented.

In addition, Wible and Dr. Armah elected to install a flat-screen television in the ceiling above their SPECT•CT gantry. Patients report the television helps keep their minds occupied during the study, and technicians have reported a marked reduction in patient motion—from 56 percent of patients down to just 7 percent. This has reduced the need for repeat scans, decreased processing times, and eliminated artifacts.